Anne McCaffrey dies

Anne McCaffrey was 85

Anne McCaffrey

The Wall Street Journal reports that McCaffrey died after suffering a stroke. McCaffrey's publisher, Random House, announced her passing.

McCaffrey is best known for her "Dragonriders of Pern" series. She published the first installment, "Dragonflight," in 1968. In 1978, she published "The White Dragon" which was a breakthrough for the series and made the New York Times bestseller list. McCaffrey's use of heroes and heroines and sci-fi and fantasy elements helped her become the first female to win a Hugo Award and the first female to win a Nebula Award.

McCaffrey had planned on attending Dragon*con 2011, but had to cancel her appearance due to poor health. Her son, Todd, posted his mother's regrets about being unable to attend.

“Mum wants me to relay to you how terribly sorry she is to have to cancel this year’s appearance at Dragon*con. What seemed to be indigestion last week has now turned out to be something more serious – some incident with her heart, the full details of which are still to be determined by tests. Mum very specifically asked me to apologize to those who had hoped to see her there, saying: ‘Sorry that old age came up and bit me on the a**.’”